What If the 1st Round is A Quick Out?

[PhoSita]

The Celts have looked really good at times this season.  For a while they sported a top 5 defense and a top 10 offense.  They looked on their way to proving the stat-heads right by winning 50 wins and snagging home court in the playoffs.


Now it's the last night of the season and it looks like the Celts will be the 6th seed, against an opponent that is more experienced and bigger at nearly ever position.

If the Celts go out in 4 or 5 games again, after finishing only one rung higher in the playoff standings, how does that make you feel about how the team has progressed this season?



Consider that we sit here at the end of the regular season and the only different face in the rotation is Amir Johnson -- likely a one year rental, if the Celts are serious about upgrading the roster this offseason where an upgrade is needed most -- and the youngest players on the roster have either stagnated (Smart, Young), or failed to get meaningful playing time (all three rookies).


What do 7 more regular season wins mean to you? 

I think for me, the biggest thing is we saw that Isaiah Thomas is a legitimate All-Star in his current role in this system, and Jae Crowder can be a full time two-way starter at small forward.

No matter what, we can all look forward to watching the Celts possibly make history in May this year, and that's something.  In the lottery, that is.   

[Smart457]

I really hope we don't but it seems more likely than not right now.

If this does happen I will be disappointed and wish we lost more games for a better draft pick.

[PhoSita]

Oh, me of little faith.

I dunno how they managed the come back tonight.  I have to go back and watch the game in full.


Still without homecourt advantage in the playoffs.

The Hawks should be heavily favored.

But like tonight, maybe the Celts will be much better than I expect them to be.

It's gonna be interesting.

[loco_91]

A quick exit would be disappointing indeed, but it wouldn't really alter my perception of this team: that they improved greatly from last season. Lots of individual players made leaps. Brad Stevens made a leap. The team got some signature wins. Last year, our playoff appearance felt fluky, like we got some lucky wins down the stretch and the sweep was an appropriate measure of our talent level. This year, if we get knocked out early I'll feel like it was just a letdown finish to an undeniably good season.

[alldaboston]

If it goes to 6 or 7 I'd still consider that a win.

[Csfan1984]

Even if the team gets swept in round one I am OK with it. The C's are doing well for a growing team. And they met many expectations already for the regular season. Without the upper level talent such as having a NBA top 15 player it's hard winning in the playoffs. I just want them to make the other team earn every win. No easy ones.

[PaulP34]

I 1st round knockout would suck but I'm more excited about the off season. It will not change my mind about this team because its going to be an entire different team next year. I can't wait...

[greece66]

Early elimination is really no biggie.

Fans often say that a good playoff run will help us lure free agents in the summer: there is some truth in that, but this is just one among many factors.

As long as we stay competitive and able to produce offensively, I'll be fine even if we get eliminated in the end.

What worries me is if the team shows that is not ready for playoffs level of competition. Now, that would be a concern.

[fairweatherfan]

Point of order:  We're two rungs higher in the seeding (7 to 5).  And really tied for 3rd best record in the conference.  EDIT: Oh I see, this was written mid-game yesterday.


...The Hawks will be a very tough out, especially without homecourt.  I think we'll be very competitive, but if they did roll us, well, we shrug it off, do some grumpyposting, and start counting the days to the lottery.

[Kane3387]

Doesn't improve our chances of hitting it big in free agency.

[Evantime34]

Early elimination is really no biggie.

Fans often say that a good playoff run will help us lure free agents in the summer: there is some truth in that, but this is just one among many factors.

As long as we stay competitive and able to produce offensively, I'll be fine even if we get eliminated in the end.

What worries me is if the team shows that is not ready for playoffs level of competition. Now, that would be a concern.

I agree with this, as long as we don't get steamrolled I don't think it's really a big deal.

Sure going deep would help for free agents. Let's say we get eliminated in the first and then add a guy like Love, Butler or Griffin on draft night, no free agent will care how deep we go in the playoffs if we make a big move on draft night.

[Lucky17]

I'll be looking more closely at the quality of play than the outcome of the series.

Losing in 4 or 5 games won't be good, but if the team is in every game, that's a little bit better a story.

I suspect most will view Boston as the underdog in the series. If they don't win, I want to see a highly competitive series.

[billysan]

An early exit is actually a possible blessing in disguise.

We can still point to improvement as previously stated.

It proves we need more improvement and upgrades at multiple positions.

We can still get excited about draft day and upcoming FA recruiting.

This will push Danny to bring in better players and not leave us with a false sense that our players are improving and we should patiently wait for them.  We should replace any player we get a chance to upgrade. We clearly are on the upswing in talent levels but we need even more. We need a couple more legit all star level players. Nothing less will suffice if we are serious.

[Tr1boy]

Can't be greedy. Baby steps. We need to win one on the road and one at home.

If we get shut out , changes are to come for sure

Nobody should be safe

[PhoSita]

EDIT: Oh I see, this was written mid-game yesterday.

Yep, I'm a dufus.

That first quarter was really deflating.



I think we've seen some growth from some of the guys on this team.  In particular I've been glad to see Thomas and Crowder blossom into no-doubt core starters that I want to see on this team for another 4-5 years.

Kelly Olynyk had another solid season, though it's still kind of disappointing he doesn't seem to have it in him to become more than a 20-24 minute bench utility big.

Sullinger was really good on the boards and on defense this season, but was trash in pretty much every other way, despite the occasional good shooting performance.  I've been disappointed by him.  But every time I think about that, I just remind myself that the Celts only got him because he had some red flags in his game and with his health, so the fact he's become a starter on a good team is better than we could've hoped.

Smart's stagnation (regression?) on offense is a bummer.  I hoped he would take a clear step forward to becoming an above average starter this season.  The fact that none of the rookies, nor James Young, really carved a significant role at all, is disappointing too.

Amir Johnson made a bigger difference than I thought he would.  David Lee was a bigger detriment on the court than I thought he'd be, but luckily we moved on from him before it was too late to go on a run.


Overall, I feel like the team made some progress, but I'm not sure things are so different now than they were a year ago, except that this group has more experience playing together.  Ultimately, the future of the franchise is going to come down to what happens in the last week or two of June and the first week or two of July.


But hey, they got 48 wins, they might give us at least one entertaining playoff series, and they entertained us pretty consistently along the way.